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BMW officially announces new N54 Turbo EngineSource: leftlanenews.com & BMW Group
BMW today released new details on its much-rumored N54 Bi-Turbo Engine. The motor is expected to appear in the 2007 BMW 335i and 2007 BMW 335ci (coupe). The engine has an output of 306 horsepower and maximum torque of 295 lbs.-ft (400 Nm). BMW said it has already tested a 3-Series sedan with the engine, and achieved a 0-62mph time of 5.7 seconds. BMW said the engine is relatively lightweight — about 70kg less than its 4.0-liter V8 engine. According to the automaker, the 3.0-liter engine has little or no turbo lag, thanks to two small turbos instead of one large one. Maximum torque is achieved between 1500 and 5800 rpm.
What is known so far: BMW will show its new e92 3-Series coupe at the Geneva Motor Show along with this new engine. What's no entirely clear is whether this engine will make it to North America. Recent rumors suggested this turbo engine would be exclusive to Europe, and a different naturally-aspirated powerplant would drive the 335 in North America.
More information from BMW Group
A new top-of-the-range power unit featuring biturbo technology and direct gasoline injection will mark the highlight of BMW’s six-cylinder engine family in future. Developing maximum output of 225 kW/306 hp and peak torque of 400 Newton-metres or 295 lb-ft, this highly innovative new engine fulfils the greatest demands also in terms of spontaneous and superior power. As the first straight-six with biturbo technology, high-precision fuel injection and an all-aluminium crankcase, this new highlight in engine technology offers a standard of responsiveness never seen before with a turbocharged engine as well as superior torque and pulling force all the way to the engine’s highest speeds. And at the same time this new turbocharged power unit comes with the supreme smoothness and refinement so characteristic of BMW’s straight-six engines.
The particular efficiency and all-round economy combined with this supreme output and performance is attributable to BMW’s high-precision fuel injection, the latest generation of direct gasoline injection by BMW making a significant contribution to the all-round economy of this trendsetting engine.
So now, introducing this combination, BMW’s engineers are writing a new and particularly attractive chapter in the history of turbocharged power units 100 years after the invention of the turbocharged engine.
Proven foundation: the straight-six power unit.
Introducing this new turbocharger technology, BMW is meeting the demand for extra power in both a thrilling and highly efficient manner. Particularly with the concept chosen by BMW, turbocharger technology is simply ideal to maintain the proven drive qualities of the engine and open up new highlights. The foundation for all this is laid by BMW’s current generation of straight-six power units displacing 3.0 litres and developing maximum output of 195 kW/265 hp and thus offering a potential quite outstanding for a normal aspiration engine. Now, to generate even more power and, in particular, torque, BMW is adding biturbo technology to this excellent starting point. Compared with the proven 3.0-litre normal aspiration engine, biturbo technology increases overall output by approximately 15 and peak torque by an even more impressive 30 per cent.
The result is clear: maximum output of 225 kW/306 hp and peak torque of 400 Newton-metres or 295 lb-ft. which, on the road, means outstanding thrust and driving power all the way up from low engine speeds. And what this means in practice BMW’s engine development specialists have already calculated, taking the BMW 3 Series Sedan as an example: The biturbo version would accelerate from 0–100 km/h more than half a second faster, with acceleration from 80–120 km/h (50–75 mph) in the second-highest gear improving from 8.2 seconds in the most powerful normal-aspiration version, the BMW 330i, to just 6.3 seconds in such a new model.
The only way to achieve such an increase in power and performance with a normal-aspiration engine would be to significantly increase engine size, which would also mean a corresponding increase in weight and corresponding effects on the car’s overall balance.
By contrast, the combination of turbocharger technology with high-precision gasoline injection is a particularly efficient way to meet even greater demands in terms of output and torque. And for comparison, the new straight-six biturbo weighs about 70 kilos or 158 lb less than an approximately equally powerful eight-cylinder normal-aspiration engine displacing 4.0 litres. A further essential point is that the power unit equipped with high-precision fuel injection offers about 10 per cent lower fuel consumption than an equally powerful turbocharged engine with manifold injection.
Apart from its low weight and fuel economy quite superior in its class, the new biturbo is able to offer yet another particular quality feature so typical of a BMW straight-six: This is supreme smoothness and refinement, precisely the virtue which has made BMW’s straight-six power units the benchmark for refined drive technology acknowledged the world over. Indeed, right from the start the specific arrangement of the cylinders gives the engine perfect balance in terms of free mass forces, avoiding vibrations even at high engine speeds. A further important point is that this turbocharged version of BMW’s six-cylinder comes with the same extra-light camshafts as on the normal aspiration engine, variable, double- VANOS camshaft adjustment, as well as an electrically driven coolant pump operating only as required (that is as a function of current cooling requirements).
